It's the last weekend of March, and Dan Stockwell brings us his final Weekend Pick for the month.
 Dan Stockwell | To remind our readers, Dr. Dan Stockwell is a former high school English language arts (ELA) teacher, is an assistant professor of English Education at California State University, Bakersfield. Dan serves as a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Secondary Section Steering Committee. In addition to his book, Teaching for CHANGE in the ELA Classroom, published by Routledge in 2025, Dan has published in NCTE’s English Journal and in the California Association of Teachers of English’s California English journal. Visit Dan’s website for lesson plans and teaching ideas. Our many thanks to professor Stockwell for a great month of YA recommendations. We are grateful for your dedication to our community of readers! |
I Don't Wish You Well by Jumata Emill
 | Jumata Emill delivers again in his latest release, I Don’t Wish You Well (published in January 2026). Like in The Black Queen—the first weekend pick for March 2026—Emill addresses timely issues through complex characters and realistic dialogue. Specifically, I Don’t Wish You Well takes on issues like homophobia, police corruption, racist redlining practices, (*trigger warning*) pedophilia, and sexual assault. Readers who enjoy mystery but are tired of formulas or flat characters should certainly pick up Emill’s books. The excellently crafted multi-dimensional conflict, round and believable characters, and realistic dialogue all make I Don’t Wish You Well an outstanding novel. In this heart-thumping novel, Pryce is a freshman college student studying to become a journalist, and after reading comments posted online, he decides to investigate his hometown’s past. Five years ago, four teenage boys were murdered, and their accused killer died by suicide. A source, though, claims the accused killer could not have been the murderer, so Pryce grabs lots of equipment he borrowed from a supportive professor and goes back home to investigate. |
| During his investigation, he discovers deep secrets no one—not even the reader—could have expected. Facing both internal conflict about coming out to his parents that he is gay and external conflict from a police chief who doesn’t want to entertain the idea that he got it wrong as well as threats from other people in town who’d prefer to move on from the “Trojan Mask Murders," as they became known, Pryce eventually discovers the truth. Just as with The Black Queen, the mystery of I Don’t Wish You Well is well-told. After encountering every twist and turn, the reader recalls little clues that Emill dropped earlier in the novel, so nothing seems cheap or forced. Once again, Emill has written an excellent thriller that stays with readers long after the last page because the issues Emill tackles in his writing sadly endure. |  Jumata Emill |
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